About Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Born in England in 1943, Bhikshuni Tenzin Palmo joined the Buddhist Society in 1961 and went to India in 1964. There she met her principal teacher, Venerable Khamtrul Rinpoche, a Drukpa Kagyu lama, in whose community she studied and worked for six years. In 1967, she received sramanerika ordination from Gyalwa Karmapa and in 1973, bhikshuni ordination in Hong Kong. In 1970, she began a twelve-year retreat in a cave in the mountains of Lahaul, India. In 1988, she moved to Italy where she also did retreat. Now she teaches internationally and is establishing Dongyu Gatsel Nunnery in Tashi Jong, India. This paper about the situation of Western monastics ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition was presented at the first Conference for Western Buddhist Teachers with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, March 1993. It was one of the stimuli for ‘Life as a Western Buddhist Nun’. (Photo by Tgumpel)